Paco Nagata wrote:Well, then, "Things which cannot be done" could be also an explanation for those who believe in magic, right?
No. Those who believe in magic would say "Yes, this can be done!".
Point being, we are our own discipline. We don't turn into Alexander Koblikov when we don't act. We don't turn into Ian McKellen if we drop our tricks.
We are not actors, we are not acting. We are, in general, not pretending to be supernatural, faithhealers, spirit mediums or fantasy wizards.
Our audiences doesn't see anything supernatural, or anything that transcends the laws of nature. Ask them. Approach any layperson, show any random Youtube magic clip, and ask "Is it your sincere belief that this person have supernatural powers? Is this person an avatar of God?" and the answer will be "No!". Because that is not who we are, not who we claim to be, and not who we pretend to be.
In our best performances, our audience know that we are exponents of the discipline "magic". They expect to see unexpected things happening, and they expect the titilating sensation of being in the gap between what they know can't happen and what they see happening.
We have loads of tricks and routines that lack overt theatrical aspects, and still get great reactions, and that is a fact that is completely ignored by the "...is an actor" model. That model is lacking and need to be replaced with something that doesn't ignore the reality and the facts.
Read about the psychology behind why people enjoy horror movies and rollercoasters - it is to large degree to experience the sensation of being in danger, without actually being in danger. It is not unreasonable to assume that something similar is true for magic, but in the place of danger, we have something else. It might be the experience of going a bit insane, without actually going insane? A safe way to experience mild psychosis? A safe way to experience conflicting stimuli. A safe way to discover and explore cognitive dissonance, in the simultaneous acceptance of two mutually exclusive realitites "This can't happen!" and "This can happen!".